GB2351646A

GB2351646A - Livestock handling crate

Info

Publication number: GB2351646A
Application number: GB0012038A
Authority: GB
Inventors: George Candlish Clark
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1999-05-19
Filing date: 2000-05-19
Publication date: 2001-01-10
Anticipated expiration: 2020-05-19
Also published as: GB9911514D0; GB0012038D0; GB2351646B

Abstract

A livestock handling crate or "cattle crush" having side restraint bars 20 which are inclined at the rear of the crate to provide greater access to the rear portion of the animal. The crate also has vertically spaced bars 18 extending along the side of the crate to further protect the animal and the farmer. These bars are moveable in an upwardly and inwardly direction of the crate to provide additional access to the upper portion of the animal in the crate. The crate further comprises a leg restraint in the form of a bar (34,Figure 66) which extends across the crate and restricts the movement of the animal's rear legs in a forward direction.

Description

2351646 1 1 "Livestock Handling Apparatus" 2 3 This invention relates to

livestock handling apparatus. 4 5 When treating livestock, and especially cattle, it is 6 well known to restrain the animal in a handling crate 7 having at one end a headgate. The animal's head passes 8 through the gate which then partially closes to prevent 9 withdrawal, while its body is contained within the 10 crate by side walls and a rump bar passing round the 11 rear of the animal. Side doors are provided on the 12 crate to give the farmer easy access to the animal. A 13 traditional problem has been to provide sufficient 14 access while still preventing substantial movement of 15 the animal, which can struggle before and during 16 treatment with consequent injury to itself and to the 17 farmer. 18 19 It is known to provide a horizontal main steel bar 20 extending along the side of the crate at a height of 21 about a metre from the base, below which the doors open 22 and close, and this gives reasonable lateral restraint 23 for the animal. However, many operations such as 2 1 cleaning have to be carried out manually at the rear of 2 the animal at the height of its thighs, and the bar 3 tends to interfere and make such operations awkward to 4 carry out.

6 In addition, while the rump bar provides rear restraint 7 for the animal it does not prevent the animal from 8 kicking its hind legs which again can be dangerous for 9 the animal and for the farmer.

11 A further disadvantage of some existing crates is that 12 access to the upper parts of the animal are restricted 13 by steel bars extending along the sides of the crate 14 above the doors and the horizontal main bar. To improve this it has been suggested to split these bars 16 midway along their length and provide them with hinges 17 so that they can be pivoted outwardly in the manner of 18 gates when access to the animal is required. This 19 causes the gates to project outwardly from the side of the crate at which the farmer is working, and can cause 21 him injury.

22 23 According to the present invention there is provided 24 livestock handling equipment comprising a handling crate having along a side portion thereof an animal 26 restraint member which is shaped to provide additional 27 clearance below a portion of the member intended to be 28 adjacent the animal's rear quarters compared to a 29 portion of the member forward of the animal's rear 30 quarters.

31 The animal restraint member is preferably disposed 32 between 0.75 and 1.55 metre above a base on which the 3 1 animal is intended to stand. Preferably there is 2 provided outwardly- hinged doors or gates below the 3 animal restraint member. 4 5 Preferably the animal restraint member is inclined 6 upwardly towards the rear of the crate to provide said 7 additional clearance. The angle of incline may be 8 uniform, and is preferably between 10' and 450, most 9 preferably between 20' and 30'. 10 11 Further according to the invention there is provided 12 livestock handling equipment comprising a handling 13 crate having an upper-body-restraint elongate member 14 extending along one side thereof, the elongate member is being movable upwardly and inwardly of the crate to 16 provide additional access to an upper portion of an 17 animal in the crate. 18 19 The movement of the upper-body-restraint elongate 20 member is preferably provided by means of rollers at 21 each end thereof engaging corresponding runners on the 22 crate. The runners preferably include a portion shaped 23 to direct the movement of the rollers and thereby also 24 of the elongate member from a vertical to a horizontal 25 direction and vice versa; said horizontal movement is 26 inward of the crate. 27 28 The upper-body- restraint elongate member preferably 29 comprises a plurality of spaced bars extending along 30 the side of the crate. 31 4 1 The spaced bars preferably move from a vertically2 spaced relationship to a generally horizontally-spaced 3 relationship. 4 5 Still further according to the invention there is 6 provided apparatus for handling livestock comprising a 7 handling crate having a leg restraint member pivotally 8 mounted on the crate between an outof-use position 9 allowing an animal's entry into the crate and an in-use 10 position in which the leg restraint member extends in a 11 direction across the crate and at a position where in 12 use it restricts the movement of the animal's rear legs 13 in a forward direction. 14 is The leg restraint member may be pivotable about a 16 horizontal or vertical axis or about an inclined axis. 17 A plurality of leg restraint members may be provided, 18 for example a pair mounted one on each side of the 19 crate, so that in their in-use positions the restraint 20 members co-operate to extend across the crate. 21 22 Preferably the restraint member is pivotal about an 23 axis so that in its out-of-use position it lies flush 24 with the side of the crate and in its in-use position 25 it lies in a direction across the crate. 26 27 An embodiment of the invention will now be described by 28 way of example with reference to the accompanying 29 drawings, in which: 30 1 Fig. 1 (a), (b), (c) and (d) are respectively 2 front, top, side and rear views of a cattle 3 handling crate of this invention; 4 5 Fig. 2 (a), (b), (c) and (d) are views 6 corresponding to those of Fig. 1, with side doors 7 omitted and upper restraint bars in their out-of8 use position; 9 10 Fig. 3 is a side view of the upper restraint bars 11 shown in Fig. 1; 12 13 Fig. 4 (a) and (b) are perspective views of the 14 front and rear track members respectively for the 15 upper restraint bars shown in Figs. 1 and 2; 16 17 Fig. 5 (a) and (b) are side views of rear and 18 front side doors respectively of the crate of Fig. 19 1; and 20 21 Fig. 6 (a) and Fig. 6 (b) are respectively a side 22 view of a portion of the rear door of Fig. 5 (a) 23 with the kick bar in its out-of-use position and a 24 rear view corresponding to Fig. 6 (a) with the 25 kick bar in its in- use position. 26 27 Referring to the drawings, the cattle handling crate of 28 this embodiment of the invention has a frame indicated 29 generally by the reference numeral 2 comprising a lower portion 4 and an upper portion of end track members 6 31 and 8 whose opposed faces have channels 10 formed in 32 them which receive rollers 12 mounted on pins 14 at 6 1 each end of side restraint members 16. These restraint 2 members consist of a pair of longitudinal spaced bars 3 18 from the lower of which depends an angled lower 4 strut 20 connected at one end to one of a pair of end supports 22.

6 7 Below the restraint members 16 an angled beam 24 8 extends along the length of the crate, having an 9 inclined rear portion 24a which descends from a height of 1320mm above a base 26 where it joins the rear of 11 the frame 2 to a height of 960mm at a front portion 12 24b. The front portion 24b is horizontal and extends 13 along about one-third the length of the frame 2.

14 Between the beam 24 and the base 26 of the crate are a 16 pair of doors 28a and 28b hinged to the rear and front 17 of the frame 2 respectively, and lockable to the base 18 26 through bolts 44 which can be released by a foot bar 19 32. The doors 28a and 28b are inclined inwardly of the crate towards the base 26 along fold lines 31a and 31b 21 respectively.

22 23 At a front portion of the rear doors 28a kick bars 34 24 are mounted on pivot pins 36 each passing through a pair of supports 38. An operating handle 40 extends 26 from an upper portion of each kick bar 34 and is used 27 to pivot the kick bar 34 between an upright out-ofuse 28 position as shown in Fig. 6(a) where it lies 29 substantially flush with the rear door 28a and a horizontal inuse position as shown in Fig. 6(b) where 31 it extends in a direction across the crate. Thus in 32 their in-use positions the kick bars 34 co-operate to 7 1 form a generally continuous barrier across the crate at 2 a height of 60omm above the base 26; the kick bars 34 3 can be locked in their in-use and out-of-use positions 4 by means of sliding bolts 30. 5 6 In their out- of-use position, the sliding bolts 30 pass 7 through the supports 38 along one side of the kick bar 8 34 adjacent the handles 40. Each kick bar 34 is 9 prevented from pivoting in one direction by the sliding 10 bolt 30 and in the other direction by the operating 11 handle 40 which lies flush with one of the supports 38. 12 To move the kick bar 34 into an in-use position, the 13 sliding bolt 30 is removed and the handle 40 is lowered 14 towards the base 26, pivoting the kick bar 34 about is pivot pin 36 into a horizontal position. The sliding 16 bolt 30 is then passed through the supports 38 to 17 restrict movement of the kick bar 34 to an out-of-use 18 position. 19 20 In use, the front end of the crate is secured to a 21 headgate (not shown) for receiving and restraining the 22 head of an animal, for example, a cow or bull. 23 24 The animal's body extends from the headgate along the 25 inside of the crate, and the doors 28a and 28b and side 26 restraint members 16 protect the farmer from injury in 27 the event of the animal becoming agitated. 28 29 Once in place in the crate, the animal may be further 30 restrained by a rump bar (not shown) extending from the 31 frame and around the hind quarters of the animal. The 32 kick bars 34 are then pivoted into their in-use 8 1 position in which they extend across the crate 2 intermediate the front and rear legs of the animal. 3 4 Access to the animal can then be gained by opening 5 outwardly either or both of the doors 28a and 28b on 6 each side of the crate, although it should be 7 appreciated that opening the rear doors 28a takes the 8 kick bars 34 out of their in-use position; this can 9 provide a safety release in the event of the animal 10 going down in the crate. The beam 24 maintains side 11 restraint for the animal and protects the farmer from 12 the animal's sudden lateral movement. The kick bars 34 13 prevent the farmer being injured by the animal kicking 14 its hind legs and co-operate with the rear doors 28a to is prevent the animal twisting sideways. The inclination 16 of the beam 24 at its rear portion 24a allows clear 17 access to the animal's hind quarters for cleaning and 18 other operations. 19 20 For access to the upper parts of the animal, either or 21 both of the restraint members 16 are lifted to cause 22 the rollers 12 to run upwardly and then inwardly of the 23 crate along the channels 10 of the track members 6 and 24 8 until they engage central stops 38 on the track 25 members 6 and 8; in that position the restraint members 26 are parked well away from the working area. 27 28 The crate of this embodiment of the invention thus 29 provides a safe and easily-adaptable crate for 30 restraining an animal while the farmer works on it. 31 9 1 Modifications and improvements may be made without 2 departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

1 Claims 2 3 1. Apparatus for handling livestock comprising a

4 handling crate having along a side portion thereof 5 an animal restraint member which is shaped to 6 provide additional clearance below a portion of 7 the member intended to be adjacent the animal's 8 rear quarters compared to a portion of the member 9 forward of the animal's rear quarters. 10 11

2. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the 12 restraint member is disposed between 0.75 and 1.55 13 metre above a base of the apparatus.

14

3. Apparatus as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 2 16 wherein outwardly-hinged doors are provided below 17 the animal restraint member.

18 19

4. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding Claim wherein the restraint member is inclined upwardly 21 towards the rear of the crate.

22 23

5. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 4 wherein the 24 restraint member is inclined at an angle of between 10 and 450.

26 27

6. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 4 wherein the 28 restraint member is inclined at an angle of 29 between 200 and 300.

31

7. Apparatus for handling livestock comprising a 32 handling crate having an upper-body-restraint 1 elongate member extending along one side thereof, 2 the elongate member being moveable upwardly and 3 inwardly of the handling crate.

4

8. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 7 wherein movement 6 of the elongate member is provided by means of 7 rollers at each end thereof which engage 8 corresponding runners on the crate.

9

9. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 8 wherein the 11 runners include a portion shaped to direct the 12 movement of the rollers and thereby also of the 13 elongate member from a vertical to a horizontal 14 direction and vice versa.

is 16

10. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 9 wherein the 17 elongate member comprises a plurality of spaced 18 bars extending along the side of the crate.

19

11. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 10 wherein the 21 spaced bars move from a verticallyspaced 22 relationship to a generally horizontally-spaced 23 relationship.

24

12. Apparatus for handling livestock comprising a 26 handling crate having a leg restraint member 27 pivotably mounted on the crate between an out-of 28 use position allowing an animal's entry into the 29 crate and an in-use position in which the leg restraint member extends in a direction across the 31 crate and at a position where in use it restricts 12 1 the movement of the animal's rear legs in a 2 forward direction.

3 4

13. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 12 wherein the leg restraint member is pivotable about a horizontal 6 or vertical axis or about an inclined axis.

7 8

14. Apparatus as claimed in any of Claims 12 or 13 9 wherein a pair of leg restraint members are mounted one on each side of the handling crate, so 11 that in their in-use positions the leg restraint 12 members co-operate to extend across the handling 13 crate.

14

15. Apparatus as claimed in any of Claims 12 to 14 16 wherein the leg restraint member is pivotal about 17 an axis so that in its out-of-use position it lies 18 flush with the side of the handling crate and in 19 its in-use position it lies in a direction across the handling crate.

21 22

16. Apparatus for handling livestock substantially as 23 hereinbefore described with reference to and as 24 shown in the accompanying drawings.